Global stocks cheer with US tax cuts firmly in their sights

Global stocks rallied Monday as a massive US tax cut plan neared final passage, lifting Wall Street to fresh records and boosting international bourses.

Wall Street has grown increasingly giddy this month as obstacles to the massive tax cut package have been overcome and momentum builds for a measure that is expected to be sent to President Donald Trump's desk by the end of the year. The House is expected to vote Tuesday afternoon.

All three major US equity indices notched records for the second session in a row, with the Nasdaq breaching 7,000 for the first time during the session before finishing a bit below that mark.

The gains were even bigger in some overseas markets.

In Europe, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 0.6 percent, though the advance limited by the pound rising against the dollar impacting multinational UK companies whose reported earnings are in the US currency.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 rallied 1.6 percent, with sentiment boosted by coalition talks due this week between Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats.

The Paris CAC 40 advanced 1.3 percent.

"The prospect of tax cuts being approved ahead of Christmas is propping up global stock markets," said market analyst David Madden at CMC Markets UK.

The Nikkei in Japan snapped a four-day losing streak, advancing 1.6 percent on positive momentum from the US.

Elsewhere on Monday, bitcoin jumped almost 10 percent to $19,500 at one point, according to Bloomberg, as the CME Group, which runs the world's biggest futures exchange, began trading futures in the cryptocurrency Sunday. It later fell back to $18,658.

The CME listing came a week after bitcoin started on the Cboe, the first time it had appeared on a major exchange and marking a watershed for the unit.

On the corporate front, shares in Thales soared more than 8 percent to 93.31 euros -- a day after the French aerospace and defense group said it was buying European SIM manufacturer Gemalto for 4.8 billion euros ($5.7 billion) to become a global leader in digital security.

Gemalto stock was up 5.6 percent at 49.46 euros.

Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway "A" shares rose 1.0 percent after briefly pushing above $300,000 for the first time.

- Key figures around 2200 GMT -

New York - DOW: UP 0.6 percent at 24,792.20 (close)

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.5 percent at 2,690.16 (close)

New York - Nasdaq: UP 0.8 percent at 6,994.76 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 7,537.01 points (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.3 percent at 5,420.58 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 1.6 percent at 13,312.30 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: UP 1.4 percent at 3,611.12

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.6 percent at 22,901.77 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.7 percent at 29,050.41 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,267.92 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1782 from $1.1755 at 2200 GMT on Friday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3383 from $1.3323

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 112.56 yen from 112.63 yen

Oil - Brent North Sea: UP 18 cents at $63.41 per barrel

Oil - West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 14 cents at $57.16 per barrel

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